Those are good points, Jennifer. You're right, of course - and I've acquired some high paying blog / article projects as well. However, my post above was more aimed at people who haven't figured that out yet and who think $5 per article is all there is to life Direct marketing is a powerful method for acquiring powerful clients.
I've been writing since 1999, and while I used to have my own site, now I have such a heavy client base that I've carved out from various niches, that I don't need it. Why market "myself" when I have more work than I can handle. Perhaps people aren't trying to market themselves, because there's SO much work out there, that there is no reason to do so. When I was starting out, I didn't have much work, but found it through textbroker, which gave me $2K a month while in college. Now, I can't find another competent writer to help me, so I just do it all. I published a kindle book on how to market, how to make money writing, and didn't do much to promote it, and it sold. Sometimes this notion of "promoting myself" falls into the wrong category. What goals do you have? To get more work or to be the all star writer with recognition? I don't care if anyone knows my name, as a ghost writer I've been able to pull in more work than any other job I had, and like I said, I don't worry about marketing "myself" in any way. I have that much work, and if I need more, I know 10 sites that pay me to do it. Perhaps that's what you need to remember, a lot of writers aren't into promoting themselves, because they don't need to, there's so much work already. But you're right, there are a lot that freak out when they don't make it. I see that a lot. If you see a need, write about it, maybe they'll buy your book.